Käsityöblogini – My craft blog

Crochet light ball

Saw a photo of the light ball in one of the Finnish crochet groups a while ago, and I really wanted to make one for myself for Christmas.

It is really easy to do, simple crocheted doilys connected together and then dipped in to the glue, and blow the balloon inside, let it dry!

I found the pattern from one of the Finnish blogs, Nean omat, where the written pattern in Finnish can be found. I’m gonna translate it here in english, but you can find the graphical instructions also from here!

What you need:

-Cotton yarn, thicker the yarn, bigger the ball
-1 regular size balloon
-Woodglue, or any other glue that uses water as thinner
-A bowl where to make the mixture of the glue and water

The crochet light ball

(US crochet terms)

Chain 8 and connect to a loop with one slip stitch

*2 double crochets in the same stitch, chain 5*, repeat until you have 8 double crochet groups

Move to the middle of the chain with slip stitches, * Chain 7, connect with single crochet to the middle of the arch of the chain stitches*, repeat around

Move to the middle of chain stitch arch with slip stitches, *Chain 11, join to the peak of the arch with single crochet* repeat around

Chain 3 ( = 1 double crochet), make 14 double crochets in to the first arch, then make 15 double crochets in to each of following arches.

*Chain 3, make 11 double crochets starting from the 3rd stitch, chain 3, join with single crochet between of the two double crochets (first and last of the groups) on the round 6* repeat around

Slip stitch to the arch of chain stitches, *chain 3, 7 double crochets starting from the 3rd stitch, chain 3, join with single crochet in the arch of chains on the round 7, chain 3, single crochet to the arch* repeat around

Slip stich to the arch of chains *chain 3, 3 double crochets starting from the 3rd stitch, chain 3, single crochet to the arch, chain 3, single crochet to the arch, chain 3, single stitch to the arch* repeat around

Slip stitch to the arch of chains, *chain 3, single crochet* to the each of the arches and in the middle stich of the double crochet group on the round 9

Make two of these doilys. Then connect those two together.

Doilys joined together

Mix 50% of glue and 50% of water on a bowl and dip the joined doilys in the mixture. Squeeze it in there, so the glue gets absorbed in to the yarn well. Then squeeze off the excess water-glue mixture.

Slip the balloon between the doilys from one of the biggest holes. Blow the balloon until the doilys are tightly around it and it’s shaped perfectly round. You can also adjust the shape a bit by pressing the ball with hands.

The light ball drying

Let it dry at least a day, or until it feels completely dry. Then pop the balloon, and take it out. And tadaa, your beautiful ball is ready!

Remember to use non-heating lamps (I prefer led’s) inside to avoid the ball catching the fire!

I had just chain of leds, and they had stiff enough wire in them, to form a kind of ball inside the light ball. So I just slipped them inside and and shaped them nicely. It really doesn’t matter, even the leds would drop on the bottom, since they will still light the ball nicely. I didn’t anchor mine, since I thought the holes in the ball aren’t that big and the leds won’t slip out, but you can always use thread to connect them to the ball, to ensure that they won’t fall of.